The invention relates to a protection arrangement for preventing damage at a continuous casting plant for slabs, in case of a breakthrough of molten metal through the solidified strand skin, including a collecting device for liquid metal provided below the mould at a supporting stand for the strand. Such a collecting device encloses the strand in the peripheral direction and is made up of displaceable collecting plates that are adjustable to the strand skin.
A protection arrangement of this kind is already known in which the collecting device is designed as a two-part trough completely enclosing the slab strand. The two U-shaped parts of this trough are adjustable to the slab strand, encompass, like clamps, one half of the strand slab each, and are horizontally displaceable relative to each other. Such a trough is not suited for a plant in which slabs of different cross sectional dimensions are cast. If the format of the slab cross section is changed, also the parts of the trough have to be exchanged.